Students Find Friend In Counselor

In the second-floor library at Oakton Community College-down a narrow hallway just to the right of the entrance-students find what some describe as one of the college`s greatest resources.

In an office small enough to reach the phone from any spot in the room sits Juele Blankenburg, Oakton`s manager of instructional support services. The department offers many forms of academic help, including tutoring, aptitude testing, time management and study skills training. The department sees about 14,500 students every year.

Blankenburg, 58, has worked in the department for 16 years. She started as a tutor when she came to Oakton in 1974. She says her role now as tutor, trainer and academic counselor fits the needs of students at a community college. ``We meet students (at their academic levels) and help them to develop into what they want to be,`` she says.

The two-year college with campuses in Des Plaines and Skokie has about 11,000 students enrolled for credit each semester and about 10,000 in continuing education non-credit courses. More than 70 percent of those receiving credit take courses in hopes of transferring to a four-year college, says Margaret Lee, vice president for curriculum and instruction. Others take classes to acquire new skills for a job change or promotion, she says.

``We try to make education available to every student at the level where the student is able to understand it,`` Lee says.

When the students don`t understand a course, they can go to Blankenburg and her staff of 12.

``Say you take a course in sociology and suddenly you`re required to write a term paper and you`ve been out of college for 10 or 15 years,``

Blankenburg says. ``You need to refresh yourself on how to do it. That`s where we can help.``

When students fall behind or find their grades suffering, they can sign up for Project Succeed, a four-year-old program supervised by Blankenburg.

``If you (get) either warning or probation and elect to join Project Succeed, we will (guide) you for a year and help you get back on your feet,`` she says.

About 20 students go through the program each year. In addition to private tutoring, the program offers classes that cover time management, study skills, career options, self-motivation and the value of having long-range goals.

``All of the students (in the program) are kids who are really in trouble academically, but when you look at their (aptitude) test scores, you see they have high academic potential,`` Blankenburg says. ``Most students are not successful because they don`t have the `schoolmanship` to get around school, not because they don`t have academic potential. And Project Succeed is proving that to be true.``

John Seidner, 20, a liberal arts major from Prospect Heights says he realized his academic potential after spending two semesters in Project Succeed. ``It changed my attitude. I`m into school now. Before I was just there. I didn`t really care about it, and I would get by on Cs or whatever. My grades improved. I used to drop my classes, and now I don`t drop them anymore,`` says Seidner, a sophomore this fall.

Seidner says Blankenburg taught him how to manage his time and how to study more effectively. ``She tried to work out a daily routine and a weekly routine for me. She made me look at how many hours a day I should be studying for each class.``

Blankenburg`s tutoring raised his grades-and his self-esteem, Seidner says. ``She showed me how important school is. She showed me that I can do it. She really boosted my ego. She`s very caring, generous and a good friend to have.``

The department also helps students who juggle work and school and those who still are living with their parents. All of Oakton`s students are commuter students, most from the immediate area, but some come from suburbs farther north, says John Gagin, director of registration and records.

Students living at home have many pressures put on their time, Blankenburg says. ``They have the benefits of being in a known environment, but there are shortfalls in that. The community college student doesn`t have as much opportunity to be viewed in a different environment in a different way-and your mother still expects you to take the garbage out.

``One of the things you tell the students to do is to make a contract with their families about the things they expect the students to do at home.`` Those students who work part or full time also are encouraged to sign similar contracts with their employers, she adds.

Blankenburg graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1954 with a bachelor`s degree in interior design. She received a master`s degree in education from the National College of Education (now National-Louis University), Evanston, in 1982. Blankenburg`s four grown children and five grandchildren all live in Illinois. Blankenburg lived in Park Ridge for 23 years before moving to Glenview in 1980.